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General Software Discussion / Re: XP or Vista user — take the poll!
« on: September 14, 2007, 07:11 AM »
Hi. I'm new. First, I'd like to extend my most sincere compliments to your organization. I can't tell you how impressed I am without getting maudlin, so I'll spare you. Suffice to say you're an island that hearkens back to the original intent of the internet, and PCs. Your forthrightness, clarity and simplicity are much appreciated, and I wish good fortune to all who are involved in this enterprise.
It's odd my first post has to do with this subject. I've used all these operating systems...even Win 16 bit. I'm a veteran of "getting Win95 to work". I was so amazed at XP I couldn't believe Microsoft did it. Now, I have a machine that shipped with Vista, and I have to say I'm ambivalent about it. On the one hand, it's beautiful visually, no denying it. On the other hand, it's like your PC has become your school marm, overseeing in an over officious way every move you make. A lot of its jargon is counterintuitive, and I find myself configuring it to what XP looks like in every way I can. I have an XP Home disk right here in plain sight, and am always fighting the urge to reformat and install it.
If I do that, I'm told by Hewlett Packard, it invalidates my warranty. Also, I don't know specifically what drivers to use, for instance to continue accessing the internet, though I know I can obtain XP drivers for everything else, I'm not sure the DVD/CD combo on this thing will read the CDs if I make the change, so I feel sort of handcuffed.
I'm also quite displeased that the majority of my software that ran on XP won't run under Vista, so I don't get the satisfaction of running programs with my new dual-core processor and 3 gigs of RAM. That is a considerable disappointment. I also have a $150 gaming mouse (USB, Razer Copperhead) that worked just fine at first with Vista, but then I wound up with a mouse pointer freezure and can no longer use it. If I install it, there it is...stuck pointer. I sent the machine to CompuServe's shop, and they used a PS mouse, giving it back saying all was fine...This gets into a layer of complication equivalent to Win95, and I'm no longer willing to run up those "make it work" ratholes. SO, Vista's shine has long since worn off, and the "look and feel" is beginning to look and feel like Catherine the Great's model cities program.
But, you know how you can get trapped in that wormhole: If I can just get the mouse to work, I'll stick with Vista. At this point it's: When my warranty runs out, I'm switching back to XP. However, what the future seems to hold is an eventual abandonment of XP, and an emphasis on Vista. Would doing this mean I'd cut myself off from the programming that will be generated in the future? I'm left with a deep dissatisfaction with what once I met with wide-eyed, boyish delight..."my computer".
I can't help but feel had the "computer industry" viewed this tool in the same way tools were viewed which allowed the western democracies to flourish, all this would have been nonexistent; standardization. You don't have to buy "this guy's screws" to match "this guy's screwdriver." The profits were more important than the functionality, and though they've all become filthy rich, they've done it by selling solid gold leaky buckets; and they've gotten away with it.
Thanks for letting me vent. In future my posts will be more uplifting, promise. I didn't vote in the poll because there was no "ambivalent" response.
It's odd my first post has to do with this subject. I've used all these operating systems...even Win 16 bit. I'm a veteran of "getting Win95 to work". I was so amazed at XP I couldn't believe Microsoft did it. Now, I have a machine that shipped with Vista, and I have to say I'm ambivalent about it. On the one hand, it's beautiful visually, no denying it. On the other hand, it's like your PC has become your school marm, overseeing in an over officious way every move you make. A lot of its jargon is counterintuitive, and I find myself configuring it to what XP looks like in every way I can. I have an XP Home disk right here in plain sight, and am always fighting the urge to reformat and install it.
If I do that, I'm told by Hewlett Packard, it invalidates my warranty. Also, I don't know specifically what drivers to use, for instance to continue accessing the internet, though I know I can obtain XP drivers for everything else, I'm not sure the DVD/CD combo on this thing will read the CDs if I make the change, so I feel sort of handcuffed.
I'm also quite displeased that the majority of my software that ran on XP won't run under Vista, so I don't get the satisfaction of running programs with my new dual-core processor and 3 gigs of RAM. That is a considerable disappointment. I also have a $150 gaming mouse (USB, Razer Copperhead) that worked just fine at first with Vista, but then I wound up with a mouse pointer freezure and can no longer use it. If I install it, there it is...stuck pointer. I sent the machine to CompuServe's shop, and they used a PS mouse, giving it back saying all was fine...This gets into a layer of complication equivalent to Win95, and I'm no longer willing to run up those "make it work" ratholes. SO, Vista's shine has long since worn off, and the "look and feel" is beginning to look and feel like Catherine the Great's model cities program.
But, you know how you can get trapped in that wormhole: If I can just get the mouse to work, I'll stick with Vista. At this point it's: When my warranty runs out, I'm switching back to XP. However, what the future seems to hold is an eventual abandonment of XP, and an emphasis on Vista. Would doing this mean I'd cut myself off from the programming that will be generated in the future? I'm left with a deep dissatisfaction with what once I met with wide-eyed, boyish delight..."my computer".
I can't help but feel had the "computer industry" viewed this tool in the same way tools were viewed which allowed the western democracies to flourish, all this would have been nonexistent; standardization. You don't have to buy "this guy's screws" to match "this guy's screwdriver." The profits were more important than the functionality, and though they've all become filthy rich, they've done it by selling solid gold leaky buckets; and they've gotten away with it.
Thanks for letting me vent. In future my posts will be more uplifting, promise. I didn't vote in the poll because there was no "ambivalent" response.